Maya Koji
'''Maya Koji '''is a significant character in the Ultimate Power Rangers continuity who befriended the Battle Task Force Power Rangers in 2001 and helped the team from behind the scenes. She is the older adoptive sister of Simon Kaden. Character History Early Life Maya and her younger adoptive brother, Simon Kaden, had lived with foster parents in the Angel Grove North district of Angel Grove, California, and was a constant in Simon's life. He considered Maya his only real family, even through they were not related by blood. (BTFPR: #1) 2001 When DoraTitan attacked Angel's Square in Angel Grove North, Maya became separated from Simon in the chaos. After searching for Simon, she found him watching a battle unfold between DoraTitan and Jason Scott. Upon seeing the monster, she recognized it as DoraTitan and remembered her grandfather, Professor Koji, speaking of such monsters and warriors, and that she had thought he was crazy, but realized she had been wrong. As Maya and Simon watched the battle, DoraTitan attacked Jason with a Ground Quaker attack, which sent a massive energy wave towards Jason. Jason jumped out of the way of the energy wave, but the energy wave was still quickly approaching Maya and Simon's position. Jason jumped back and pushed Maya and SImon out of the way of the energy wave, which ripped across the pavement and exploded against a nearby building. Jason told Maya and Simon to get out of there just before a chain suddenly wrapped around his neck and snapped him off of his feet. Maya and Simon remained in the area as the battle continued, and they soon saw Jason's teammates--Zack Taylor, Kimberly Hart, Billy Cranston, and Trini Kwan--arrive on the scene. As she watched the teens, she wondered if these were the five that "Grandpa" had told her about. When the five teens transformed into the Battle Task Force Power Rangers, she was sure of it. She and Simon watched the Rangers attack DoraTitan with a series of random attacks that lacked any strategy, and then bicker about strategy. Maya shouted at the Rangers that the five of them need to work together to beat the monster. DoraTitan then approached Maya and Simon and said it appeared they wished to join in on their fun. DoraTitan whipped its chain around Maya and Simon, snapped them off of their feet, and pulled them in close. DoraTitan held Maya and Simon up for the Rangers to see, and held its blade to Simon's throat. Tyranno Ranger demanded that DoraTitan let Maya and Simon go, and DoraTitan complied, by throwing Maya and Simon backward into a television billboard. Maya and Simon were absorbed into the billboard and imprisoned in a pocket dimension, and appeared on the billboard screen as if on television. (BTFPR: #1) When Mammoth Ranger slashed DoraTitan across the chest with his Mammoth Breaker axe, Maya and Simon screamed in pain. The Rangers realized that any damage taken by DoraTitan would now be felt by Maya and Simon, and DoraTitan emphasized this fact by scratching its own armor with its blade, causing Maya and Simon to again cry out in pain. Tyranno Ranger would quickly destroy the monster with a Power Blade attack, which freed Maya and Simon from the pocket dimension, and they fell out of the television billboard to the street below. Ptera Ranger rushed over to check on Maya and Simon, who were unharmed. Simon was impressed by the damage done to a nearby building by Tyranno Ranger's Power Blade attack. A streak of light suddenly shot from the skies and struck DoraTitan's ashes, reassembling the monster as a giant that towered over the city. The Rangers then summoned their Dinozords, and Maya pulled Simon away towards cover to watch the giant battle from a safe place. (BTFPR: #1) After the Megadinozord destroyed DoraTitan, the Rangers hopped back down to the streets, where Simon and Maya ran over to them. Simon told them that they were awesome, just before an evil laughter suddenly bellowed from the rooftops. The Rangers, Maya, and Simon looked up to see Dragon Ranger and the other three Dark Warlords standing on separate rooftops above them. Dragon Ranger called the Rangers fools, and Tyranno Ranger demanded to know who they were. Dragon Ranger introduced himself and his fellow warriors as the Dark Warlords and himself speciifically as the Warlord of Cruelty. Secmet introduced himself as the Warlord of Venom. Dayus introduced himself as the Warlord of Illusion. Kayl introduced himself as the Warlord of Deception. Dragon Ranger then told the Rangers that the creature they killed was but a pawn, and that Bandora was ready to strike now, and when she did, nothing would stop their world from falling. Mammoth Ranger defiantly yelled that they weren't afraid of them, but Dragon Ranger simply replied, "You will be," as he and the other three warlords stepped back and shimmered out of sight, leaving Maya, Simon, and the Rangers to contemplate the implications. (BTFPR: #1) At least a day following the Rangers' battle with DoraTitan and subsequent confrontation with the Dark Warlords, Maya, Simon, and Jason walked towards a small apartment building a few miles southwest of Angel's Square in a run-down part of the city. Simon asked Jason why the other Rangers hadn't come with them, and Jason explained that they wanted to stay behind in case Bandora "tried to pull anything again." Simon asked who Bandora was, and Jason shrugged, admitting that they weren't sure who she was, or anything about their powers except how to use them. Maya was certain that her grandfather could help them, recalling him telling her legends when she was a girl similar to what they just went through. Jason nodded, saying that was what he was counting on, and added that they appreciated her help. Maya, Simon, and Jason entered the apartment building and passed through the empty lobby towards an old elevator. (BTFPR: #2) Maya led Jason and Simon towards her grandfather's apartment on the top floor of the building. Jason asked her if this was the place, and Maya nodded, saying that her grandfather should be inside. Simon grabbed Jason by the hand and led him inside. (BTFPR: #2) Unbeknownst to Maya, Jason, and Simon, several shadows were slithering towards Professor Koji's apartment building, moving as if they were alive as they inched towards the top floor. (BTFPR: #2) Maya, Jason, and Simon entered Professor Koji's apartment, where several suits of samurai armor were on display in glass cases. They found Professor Koji sitting at his desk at the far end of the room, hunched over his laptop computer. He barely paid his visitors any notice until Maya told him that he wouldn't believe what had happened. Professor Koji stood and looked slowly towards Maya before shifting his gaze on Jason and stating, "So... this is a Ranger..." Maya nodded and asked him how he knew that. Professor Koji suddenly grabbed Maya by the neck and asked her if she took him for a fool. Maya struggled to break free from her grandfather's grasp, but he seemed to have an unusual amount of strength. Simon tried to intervene, pulling at Professor Koji's sleeve, crying for him to stop it, as he was hurting Maya. Professor Koji slapped Simon across the face with the back of his hand, knocking Simon to the ground. Jason dashed towards Professor Koji to intervene, and Professor Koji pushed Maya aside, pulled a knife from his belt, and swung the blade at Jason. Jason dodged the weapon and stepped around Professor Koji to stand in front of Maya and Simon to protect them. Professor Koji's eyes began to slowly light up with a crimson glow, causing Maya to cry out, "Grandpa?" Jason said he didn't think that was her grandpa talking. Suddenly, the suits of armor came to life and stood within the display cases. Jason ordered Maya and Simon to the ground as the suits of armor shattered through the glass and attacked. Jason fought back against the armor creatures to keep them away from Maya and Simon, but while Jason was distracted, Professor Koji stalked towards Maya with a crooked grin on his face. (BTFPR: #2) Jason jump-kicked the last armor creature to the ground, and turned to see Professor Koji holding Maya with a knife to her throat and Simon trying to pry the two apart. Professor Koji glared at Jason and ordered him not to make another move. Jason pulled a knife from the back of his belt and leapt towards Professor Koji while swinging the blade towards his face. Maya cried out for him not to kill him, and Jason stopped the knife a centimeter away from Professor Koji, causing an evil spirit inhabiting his body to flee with fear. Professor Koji dropped to the ground, and a concerned Simon kneeled down at his side. Professor Koji whispered to Simon in a weak, raspy voice not to be sad, calling him, "my little hawk." Maya kneeled down next to Simon and held him close while she cried. Professor Koji said, "It's begun," and told Maya that she must help the Rangers find their way. Professor Koji slowly reached up and used his desk for balance to climb off the flor despite Maya's pleas to save his strength. Jason suggested taking Professor Koji to a hospital, but Professor Koji said that there wasn't time as he sat in front of his laptop and pulled up a data file on the computer. He told Jason that this would lead him to the answers he seeks. Grabbing Jason by the shirt, Professor Koji told him to protect his granddaughter before exhaling a final, raspy breath and collapsing into his chair, dead. Maya and Simon hugged their fallen grandfather and cried, while Jason heard a voice call out for "Tyranno Ranger" from outside the window. Jason ran over to the window and looked out to see Secmet staring at him from a rooftop across the street. Jason looked back at Maya and Simon and told them that he would be right back before leaping out the window. (BTFPR: #2) Later, after the Rangers' battles with Dragon Ranger and Secmet, the five Ranger teens gathered in Professor Koji's apartment, where Maya tended to their wounds. As Maya wrapped a bandage around Zack's arm, he complained that he thought that their armor was supposed to protect them, adding, "A hell of a job it's done so far." Billy told him that they're not invulnerable, and Zack said that they should be. Trini sighed and said she didn't think it was safe to stay there too much longer, as Bandora might expect to find them all there. Maya assured her that they wouldn't stay for long. She walked over to Professor Koji's computer and pulled up a .jpeg file, showing a map of the mountains northeast of Angel Grove. Kimberly asked what the map was, and Maya said that it was "A map my grandfather gave me before he..." Maya's voice trailed off, and Jason placed a hand on her shoulder and apologized. Maya nodded, not wanting any more sympathy. Simon asked where the map led to, and Jason replied that there was only one way to find out. (BTFPR: #2) Relationships *Simon Kaden (adoptive brother) Notes/Trivia *Maya was born in 1983. *It was stated that Maya's biological parents died when she was young, and her grandfather, Professor Koji, was deemed too emotionally unstable to look after her, forcing her to live in a foster home.